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Welcome to the Public Review Summary for Revised Draft of Data Capture Standards (DCS)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed a revised draft specification for the DCS – Appendix N of FEMA's Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners. Based on the feedback describing difficulty of implementing the existing specification, FEMA has attempted to produce a new version that is simpler and better documented. FEMA believes there will be significant savings and better archiving of study data with the new strategy and data structure implemented by the new version of the DCS. The new specification also contains guidance for collecting scoping, base map, coastal, alluvial fan, redelineation, and digital conversion technical data not previously referenced in the DCS. FEMA will be implementing the new DCS, in coordination with mapping partners, immediately on some existing and future task orders.

The new version of the DCS is not yet complete—it is a work in progress. FEMA seeks your input to address potential ambiguity or confusion in this version. To ease the impact on projects implementing the new specification, FEMA will provide an enhanced level of support through the National Service Provider (NSP) to address questions that arise, will maintain an online discussion forum that allows mapping partners to post questions and comments, and will allow the NSP and FEMA to provide answers and clarifications.

In addition to the new version of the DCS, data schemas for use in submitting DCS-compliant deliverables have also been developed and provided for review. These documents are as follows:

The DCS documents will be available for public review and comment through mid-December 2008. FEMA encourages public comment from all interested parties regarding the feasibility of implementing the proposed specifications, the utility and completeness of the finished product proposed, and the usability of the DCS document itself and associated data submittal schemas.

FEMA will provide enhanced support through mid-December 2008. At that time, all the questions, comments, and answers collected will be integrated into a final specification to be published in early 2009.

A DCS update discussion forum is available at DHS Interactive to support comments and discussion from DCS users and to provide responses and clarification from the NSP and FEMA.

Access to the DCS Web Forum on DHS Interactive.

In addition to the changes described above, the revised version of the DCS attempts to consolidate the DCS deliverables and the Technical Support Data Notebook (TSDN) to reduce the overlapping requirements for mapping partners. To ensure that FEMA retains complete documentation of studies, all FEMA-contracted studies must comply with either the existing or the revised draft DCS and will continue to require the TSDN as a final deliverable at the end of the project. The submittal of the TSDN requirement will continue until the revised DCS is finalized and published in early 2009.

A digest of common questions and the answers will be published here periodically for users interested in a summary. The topic areas from the forum are listed below. Please click on your area of interest for review of information and its status. To review or make comments on any of these topics, please go to DHS Interactive. A copy of the revised draft DCS and associated data submittal schemas are also available for review.

Summary of Comments and Comment Resolution

To review summary of comments submitted to DHS Interactive please follow the link below for your topic of interest. Resolutions to comments are also provided under these topic areas.


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Useful Links


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Access to the DCS Web Forum on DHS Interactive

The draft DCS forum is being hosted on the DHS Interactive online collaboration system.

Please remember that DHS Interactive is a secure site. The certificate is provided by DHS and is legitimate. You can disregard the warning (or click yes) about the certificate provider when you are trying to access the site.

If you do not have a dhs.gov email address

Access the DHS Interactive login page. Click on "Register for Sponsored Account" and fill out the information requested. For the sponsor e-mail, use John Magnotti (John.Magnotti@dhs.gov). Complete all other required fields. Click on "Submit." The system does not give a clear indication that the request has been submitted, but if you submit the request again, it will notify you that a request is pending.

When you request access, you will receive an e-mail confirming the request has been submitted. Once the request has been approved, you will receive a second e-mail containing your password. All requests will be reviewed within one business day. To change the password, log in and click on "Profile" in the "My" menu.

First-time users should:

  1. Follow this direct link to DHS Interactive (https://interactive.dhs.gov/suite/page/2410);
  2. Immediately upon logging in you should see the "DHS Posters" page - the name is in the upper right;
  3. Click the "Make This My Homepage" and "Bookmark" buttons; and
  4. Click the "Subscribe to this Knowledge Center" link.

In the event you get lost on the site, the best way back to the DCS page is to click on "Bookmarks" in the "My" menu. On the Bookmarks page, click on "DCS Posters" to return.

If you have a dhs.gov email address

1) Navigate to: https://interactive.dhs.gov/suite/page/2410.

2) If you have a DHS Online or DHS Interactive account, login and follow the guidance for first‑time users above.

3) Otherwise, click the "Lost Your Password" link to open the Lost Password popup window.

4) In the username field, type your dhs.gov email address and click "Request a New Password."

5) You should receive an automatic e-mail with your password. Once you receive your login information, follow the guidance above for first-time users. If you do not receive an e-mail within two hours, contact the DHS Interactive/Online Help Desk at (800) 250-7911 for assistance.

Once logged in you will see the 11 message boards, one for each DCS section, and an additional section for cross-cutting issues. To view the contents of a message board, click on its name. Once viewing the board, you can click on existing discussions or add a new topic by clicking the "Create a Topic" link at the top. To return to the main page, click the "Exit" link.

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For More Information

For questions, issues, or problems logging in to DHS Interactive, call 703-317-6522.

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Last Modified: Friday, 31-Oct-2008 10:31:57 EDT